Hoboken: It’s a “Family Affair”

We are Family!

Considering the Hoboken Fire and Police departments have been a hot topic as of late, Hoboken resident estevens once again found a segment from a City Council meeting a while back and says:

“In December of 2007, Beth Mason raised concerns about certain council members voting to approve the appointment of Hoboken’s new public safety director. Terry LaBruno took offense. She went on to list council members (along with the former business administrator) whose family members are public safety employees.

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[quote comment=”132562″]By the way, Councilperson Mason chose not to receive a salary.
This is a matter of record. The council is in the process of reducing their pay 10 to 15% and some adjustment in their benefits. This is a step in the right direction. Again, let’s see what they do in the area of saving $millions.[/quote]

This is only a step in the right direction because of the council’s performance. Under normal circumstance, I have no problem with the council people getting decent pay and benefits for the time they put in. This might actually encourage some talented people to run for the council, and those that are there might not feel that the city “owes” them more than their salary.

All you need to do to confirm your worst fears about the insider actions that come via the wallet of the taxpaying residents is go to a City Council meeting EARLY get a seat and just watch.

My buddy who has lived here a long time went and he came away with nothing but disgust. He said it’s all a bunch of buddies getting together and spending the town’s money like its their own.

Since he wasn’t part of “the clan” people would give him weird looks. I remember experiencing just the same some years back when dropping by the Parking Dept. at City Hall just to ask about the status of the 915 Garden garage opening. I was monitored and waiting while the “workers” behind the doors looked at me to gauge how much of a “threat” I was.

I would hope the city council would vote on stuff like that and they didn’t just create those positions without some sort of oversight. But that doesn’t mean they can’t vote to eliminate those positions and the fact that the council may have approved the creation of these positions doesn’t at all excuse the fact that they are a waste of money. The fact remains that the FD and PD are incredibly inefficient organizations and their waste of taxpayer funds is the primary reason for the budget mess (same for the BOE). It is the fault of everyone who works there and says nothing while wasting taxpayer funds. It is the fault of the council (and BOE) for not confronting this waste and for even allowing it to begin with (though my guess is that previous councils approved those positions years ago). It is the fault of the Mayor for actually filling those positions even though he absolutely knows Hoboken doesn’t need over 40 members of the brass for a FD as small as Hoboken’s. The PD and FD need to be right-sized and all those excess positions need to be eliminated. You may not be able to cut the salary of the workers in those slots, but you can absolutely make sure that once those people retire, nobody gets promoted into a similarly useless job at an obscenely high and completely undeserved salary.

By the way, Councilperson Mason chose not to receive a salary.
This is a matter of record. The council is in the process of reducing their pay 10 to 15% and some adjustment in their benefits. This is a step in the right direction. Again, let’s see what they do in the area of saving $millions.

To Matt_72 – The city council passed the ordinances for both the PD & FD. I was referring to the employment practices. The level of protection and the cost of same is the responsibilty of the governing body. Their job is to provide these services in most cost-effective manner as possible in view of the city’s financial status. Based on opinion, they set the positions in the TO in the form a city ordinance…it is their job! The outside expert from the DCA will (shortly, I hope) render an independent OPINION based on practices thoughout the State. In any event, his/her report is only a guide. The final DECISION is up to our elected council, which as evidenced by the state supervision, has not done a good job to date. The public should be part of this process and that is why one should get active and hold our elected representative accountable and not let the mismanagement continue. The ORDINANCE must be approved by the council. Inform your councilperson(s) of your opinion and try to get to the council meetings. Let’s see how they handle the role that they are getting paid for? (Salary of approx. $25K per yr. plus benefits). Vote for change in May ❗